Personals

Jill Spagnoli of Great Date Now interviews a client at the firm's Center City office. (Bonnie Weller / Staff Photographer)

Old-style matchmaking supplies personal touch

Lynn Marks is part of a rising trend of people who are shutting off their computers and turning to professional matchmaking companies for help finding Mr. (or Ms.) right.

advice

Carolyn Hax

Deciding whether to take an undesirable job

Question: My husband has been offered a job (hooray!) with a decent salary, but he doesn't want it. I'm trying to be sympathetic: It is a step down, the boss is a bit nuts, and it really doesn't capitalize on his incredible skills (Ph.D. plus years of cutting-edge research).

Dear Abby: Mom's bank-account grilling grates on college coed

DEAR ABBY: I am 20 and live most of the year on my college campus. I'm on a full scholarship, so my parents are not paying my tuition. Most of my mail - bank statements, etc. - still goes to my parents' house since I don't have a permanent address.

Dear Abby: The best birthday present is to grow older every year
Dear Abby: Abused by stepmother, should she tell half-sister?
Dear Abby: Teen reluctant to disappoint mom with a change of plan

Ask Amy

Amy Dickinson

Never too late for thank-you

Dear Amy: My husband of five years died suddenly in 2004. He was 46 years old; I was 43.

Abuse should be reported promptly
Superstitious about wife's trips
Man is disturbed by 'cougars'
Toxic tenant seems a toxic parent, too
Young fiance isn't ready to be a dad

Love

'It's about the soul'

October 31, 2009, in Kennett Square

Jessie and Patrick met in the late 1990s, when Jessie was doing playback theater. Though Patrick started as an audience member, the two became close friends when he became a regular playback participant. "We had a connection with social justice issues," Patrick says.